Fast missions to Pluto using Jupiter gravity-assist and small launch vehicles

Minovitch, Michael A.

doi:10.2514/3.26554

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Spacecraft had been sent to the other eight planets but not to Pluto, although planning for a mission to Pluto dates as far back as the 1960s (Long 1969;Keller 1971;Farquhar and Stern 1990;Weinstein 1992;Staehle et al 1994;Minovitch 1994;Stern and Mitton 1998). The Pluto mission certainly is one of the most challenging deep-space missions, because it requires extremely high launch energy, long flight time, observation of multiple bodies in a brief flyby with high flyby velocity, communications to Earth from great distances, and long light-time delay.…”

Section: Mission Scope and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Besides the JGA trajectory (Minovitch 1994) that proceeds directly from Earth to Jupiter and then to Pluto, there are other indirect JGA trajectories, such as the three-year V -EarthJupiter gravity-assist approach (Farquhar and Stern 1990) and the Venus-Venus-EarthJupiter gravity-assist trajectory (Weinstein 1992). These indirect JGA trajectories include additional Earth or Venus-and-Earth flybys before approaching Jupiter, further reducing the launch energy to a level such that a small launch vehicle would be sufficient.…”

Section: Routes To Plutomentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Horizons Mission Design

Guo

Farquhar

2007

Space Sci Rev

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In the first mission to Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006, and flew by Jupiter on February 28, 2007, gaining a significant speed boost from Jupiter's gravity assist. After a 9.5-year journey, the spacecraft will encounter Pluto on July 14, 2015, followed by an extended mission to the Kuiper Belt objects for the first time. The mission design for New Horizons went through more than five years of numerous revisions and updates, as various mission scenarios regarding routes to Pluto and launch opportunities were investigated in order to meet the New Horizons mission's objectives, requirements, and goals. Great efforts have been made to optimize the mission design under various constraints in each of the key aspects, including launch window, interplanetary trajectory, Jupiter gravity-assist flyby, Pluto-Charon encounter with science measurement requirements, and extended mission to the Kuiper Belt and beyond. Favorable encounter geometry, flyby trajectory, and arrival time for the Pluto-Charon encounter were found in the baseline design to enable all of the desired science measurements for the mission. The New Horizons mission trajectory was designed as a ballistic flight from Earth to Pluto, and all energy and the associated orbit state required for arriving at Pluto at the desired time and encounter geometry were computed and specified in the launch targets. The spacecraft's flight thus far has been extremely efficient, with the actual trajectory error correction V being much less than the budgeted amount.

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Section: Mission Scope and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Routes To Plutomentioning

confidence: 99%